A click on buttons from a to g will select spheres with 121 mm diameter of different solids and their position of equilibrium in water and mercury observed at 25 ^oC. The colours are just an artistic representation, in some cases it is equal to the natural colour of the material. For didactical purposes the liquids are represented by parallel lines, although it is well known mercury is a silver white opaque liquid.

Button a dysplays any sphere above the initial liquid in the cylinder with 147 mm of diameter. The table below shows the materials (pine = wood from araucaria angustifolia) and respective densities selected by the buttons.
 

Material	bees wax	graphite	pine	quartz	water	mercury
Button	b	c	d	e	f	g
Density (g/mL, 25 oC)	0,96	2,16	0,56	2,7	0,997	13,6

This work is based on the Archimedes (287-212 a.C.) principle.

Surface tension effects and chemical interactions are not considered in this study.

The cursor coordinates help to follow this simple densimeter.

Density is one of the values that help material identification and one of the purity indicators when the experimentally measured density does not coincide with the expected value.

Bibliography

Any book on geometry and basic sciences.

Theme table
 

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